Taiwanese banks extended NT$150.3 billion (US$4.63 billion) in new loans to nations included in the government’s New Southbound Policy (NSP) during the first four months of this year, led by lending to India and Australia, data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Commission showed earlier this month.
The figure is 1.8 times the NT$83.9 billion in new loans to the NSP nations recorded for the whole of last year and 2.37 times the commission’s annual new loan target of NT$63.4 billion for this year, indicating a steady recovery in fund demand in those markets, the regulator said.
The policy, introduced in 2016, is designed to enhance trade and exchanges between Taiwan and 18 nations in Southeast Asia, South Asia and Oceania: Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank
Local banks have in the past few years not only increased lending to clients expanding operations in those nations, but also launched new branches or representative offices in the countries in hopes of attracting more business opportunities.
In April, the commission approved Far Eastern International Bank’s (遠東銀行) application to set up a branch in Singapore and permitted O-Bank Co (王道銀行) to launch a representative office in Sydney, Australia, after in February allowing Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行) to open a branch in Mumbai, India.
During the first four months of this year, new loans to India totaled NT$80.2 billion, topping all other NSP nations, followed by Australia with NT$32 billion, Singapore with NT$18.2 billion and Vietnam with NT$13.1 billion, commission data showed.
By individual banks, Taipei Fubon was the most active with new loans of NT$18.9 billion in the first four months, ahead of CTBC Bank’s (中國信託銀行) NT$18 billion and Bank SinoPac’s (永豐銀行) NT$10 billion, followed by Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) with NT$9.7 billion and Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) with NT$9.3 billion, the data showed.
Overall, Taiwanese banks’ outstanding loans to the 18 nations at the end of April totaled NT$1.74 trillion, the data showed.
Sweeping policy changes under US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr are having a chilling effect on vaccine makers as anti-vaccine rhetoric has turned into concrete changes in inoculation schedules and recommendations, investors and executives said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has in the past year upended vaccine recommendations, with the country last month ending its longstanding guidance that all children receive inoculations against flu, hepatitis A and other diseases. The unprecedented changes have led to diminished vaccine usage, hurt the investment case for some biotechs, and created a drag that would likely dent revenues and
Global semiconductor stocks advanced yesterday, as comments by Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) at Davos, Switzerland, helped reinforce investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence (AI). Samsung Electronics Co gained as much as 5 percent to an all-time high, helping drive South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI above 5,000 for the first time. That came after the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose more than 3 percent to a fresh record on Wednesday, with a boost from Nvidia. The gains came amid broad risk-on trade after US President Donald Trump withdrew his threat of tariffs on some European nations over backing for Greenland. Huang further
Macronix International Co (旺宏), the world’s biggest NOR flash memory supplier, yesterday said it would spend NT$22 billion (US$699.1 million) on capacity expansion this year to increase its production of mid-to-low-density memory chips as the world’s major memorychip suppliers are phasing out the market. The company said its planned capital expenditures are about 11 times higher than the NT$1.8 billion it spent on new facilities and equipment last year. A majority of this year’s outlay would be allocated to step up capacity of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips, which are used in embedded multimedia cards (eMMC), a managed
CULPRITS: Factors that affected the slip included falling global crude oil prices, wait-and-see consumer attitudes due to US tariffs and a different Lunar New Year holiday schedule Taiwan’s retail sales ended a nine-year growth streak last year, slipping 0.2 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over US tariff policies affected demand for durable goods, data released on Friday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed. Last year’s retail sales totaled NT$4.84 trillion (US$153.27 billion), down about NT$9.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, from 2024. Despite the decline, the figure was still the second-highest annual sales total on record. Ministry statistics department deputy head Chen Yu-fang (陳玉芳) said sales of cars, motorcycles and related products, which accounted for 17.4 percent of total retail rales last year, fell NT$68.1 billion, or
RSS